Our Time To Shine
by Wall With A Fez
Summary: Arietta Rosenberg's life is a song, a song which now contains the Dumping Ground. What will the Dumping Ground residents think of the eccentric teenager and what will they think of her song? Runs in parallel with Zebralover4578's story Not Alone Anymore. Knowledge of it is recommended but not necessary.
1. Chapter 1

**Our Time To Shine: Chapter 1 Not Alone Anymore: Chapter 24**

The melody flowed perfectly, the harmony complimented it beautifully and overall the texture was rich and...

"Arietta," Steve, her social worker, said. Distracting the musician from her new composition.

"Should I switch to the relative minor? Or should I bring a new theme?" She asked me,

"Arietta, have you listened to anything I have said in the last half hour?" The 14 (nearly 15) year old girl considered for a moment.

"Nope."

"Arietta Rosenberg, this is important,"

"I know, medication, blah, blah, blah. Now I think a diminished chord is required then it will be resolved with the original one," Steve sent the eccentric Chinese girl a withering look, "keep your eyes on the bloody road, if you crash the car and I die it will be your fault and I will never fulfil my musical potential but then again many successful composers died tragically and young."

"Arietta, I understand that music is very important but could you try and tone it down, just for your first few days,"

"all great musicians were told, at some point, to abandon their musical careerer but that never stopped them, so they are now famous. Eternally famous."

"I'm not saying stop your music, just tone it down for a bit," Arietta shock her head sighing,

"B minor."

Xxx

Everything for Arietta was expressed in music, it was how she saw the world. Her childhood: a prelude by Chopin. Seeing the world: the Four Seasons by Vivaldi. The bad times: The River Flows In You by Yiruma. The future: A crazy modern piece that had been inverted, switched to the retrograde and then inverted again.

The house in front of her was a fresh start, but also a mystery. A mystery that could be solved by a simple melody.

Xxx

Not many people chose to sit outside their new home, most went into it but Arietta was always... interesting. She waited until she had finished her composition before knocking on the door. The door was opened almost immediately by a tallish balding man,

"hello I'm Mike Milligan, head care worker of Elmtree House, you must be Arietta Rosenberg." Arietta nodded mutely, he looked at her boxes littered around the entrance, he immediately spied the thick book on top of one of the nearest boxes.

"That's my file," she told him, passing it to him,

"the delivery company brought your other stuff this morning, it's in your room,"

"thanks," she replied, picking up two of the boxes and carrying them inside. Mike picked up the remaining boxes and closed the door. "What shall I do with my stuff?" she asked, trying not to get distracted by the song forming in her head.

"Leave it down here, I'll take it up for you, I think you should probably meet the other kids." She nodded, smile erupting over her face when she noticed the piano in the corner. She rushed over to it, quickly playing her latest ideas, it worked, she stored her idea as a mental note for later.

"This definitely explains all the musical stuff that arrived this morning," she nodded,

"I love music, music is... me." He nodded,

"anyway let's meet the other kids."

Xxx

"Everybody this is Arietta, make her feel welcome please!" Mike exclaimed and rushed off, leaving Arietta alone in the doorway. The kids stared at her silently, taking in her bright clashy clothes, her rainbow highlighted hair and the Chinese scribblings on her trainers. They looked around at each other, unsure about how to react.

"Hi Arietta I'm Sam I'm 14 as well, this is Harry, Tyler, Faith, Kitty, Frank, Mo," she told Arietta pointing at each person in turn "and Johnny whose upstairs." Arietta looked at each person, her eyes quickly returning to the gorgeous blonde who had spoken up.

"Hiya," she said lamely, she looked around quickly, _don't talk about music, anything but music. _"Not being funny but there isn't a lot of you here because this looks like a pretty big home?" All the kids sighed, _oh well done Arietta, go straight for the sensitive topic. _

"One of the girls, Johnny's sister, Tee ran away about 5 days ago and a few days ago Erin and Rick who were like the leaders of us all ran away after her," a boy, Tyler(?). Arietta mentally slapped herself.

"How old are they all?" she asked before she could stop herself,

"Tee's 13, that's why Erin and Rick went after her and they're both 14," Sam said, "But Erin's pregnant, so we're all worried about her and Tee's alone as far as we know so Johnny's really sensitive at the moment, so just be careful mentioning anything to do with her around him." Arietta nodded, awkwardly, unsure about what to say.

"Anything else I should know?" she asked, _might as well get the facts first. _

"Frank's got cerebral palsy, but he's completely normal. Johnny has anger issues, hence why you shouldn't talk to Tee about him, Erin used to have anger issues but they've definitely got better now and Mo likes hunting for treasure so hide your stuff," Sam told her laughing, amazingly everyone else laughed with her, Arietta nodded dumbly – lost without her musical talk.

"Hey do you wanna play cards?" Tyler asked, sitting down at a table, grabbing a pack of cards.

"Yeah, go on then," she told him, joining him at the table, "anyone else up for a game?" The gorgeous blonde (Sam) along with a smaller plainer girl (Kitty) and Frank.

They had just gotten into a hilarious conversation about custard and umbrellas when Kitty's phone buzzed, "I'll be back in a second," she told them sprinting away, Sam shrugged when Arietta sent her a questioning look. Sam's phone buzzed about 20 minutes later, she gasped and showed the text to Frank and Tyler who reacted similarly.

"What's the matter?" Arietta asked,

"um... it's a thing..." Sam told her, standing up, the boys chucked their cards down and copied. Ari went to stand up, "Arietta, in the nicest way possible your presence won't help," then they all left leaving the new girl standing alone.

"Right. I'll just settle in by myself," she yelled down the corridor after them.

**This story runs parallel to Zebralover4578's story Not Alone Anymore, Arietta belongs to me and Sam half belongs to me. **

**SPOILERS FOR NOT ALONE ANYMORE – DON'T READ IF YOU WANT TO READ THE ORIGINAL STORY**

**At this point in the story Erin is pregnant with Rick's baby, the house was divided by the pregnancy and Johnny and Tee were on different sides. Tee supported Erin and Johnny thought she should have an abortion. Johnny tried to force Tee to change her mind and ended up hitting her, as revenge Tee ran away and Rick and Erin ran after her. During this chapter Johnny believes that he has failed Tee and tries to kill himself but Kitty fortunately stopped him. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2/Chapter 27**

**Thank you Cookie05 for following and reviewing**

**Thank you Shine-Of-A-Star for following and adding to favourites**

**Thank you Zebralover4578 for reviewing and if you want help uploading I could try and help you.**

**Thank you Guest101 for reviewing**

**Thank you Candy-Apple2014 for reviewing, following and adding to favourites. **

**Thank you Linneagb for reviewing and adding to favourites.**

_She was trapped in the darkness, her hands tied behind her back, she could feel the could metal against her skull. Then BANG._

Arietta bolted upright, waking up immediately. She looked around, confused. _Where am I? _Then she remembered, _new care home, duh. _Like routine she swung herself of the bed and examined her arms – red but she hadn't broken the skin. The marks would fade, so would the scars elsewhere on her body, the marks would disappear, the scars wouldn't.

She didn't bother checking the time, she knew from experience that it was sometime before 6. She grabbed a pair of jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt and hoodie and used the shower quickly, washing her hair then scraped it back into a bun. The marks of her arms were gone, her scars, the scars, still remained.

Xxx

Cor Anglais – deep melodic instruments with a rich melancholy tone. Arietta wished she could play it but she had never managed the techniques of a wind instrument, she had tried out flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons but she was always unsuccessful.

But just because she couldn't play an instrument had never stopped her composing for it. She wasn't going to lie, the October morning was chilly but she had faced far worse. She heard the back door clicking, deciding to investigate she slipped her notebook into her pocket and headed in that direction.

Xxx

Kitty was sitting on the stairs outside the kitchen in silence, she didn't notice Arietta approaching. She was too wrapped in her own thoughts due to the attempted suicide of her boyfriend – Johnny. Not that Arietta knew about these events – no one had thought to tell her.

"Hey, what are you doing out here so early?" Arietta asked, accidentally making Kitty jump.

"Just thinking," Kitty told her, Arietta sat on the step next to her and comfortingly part an arm round the younger girl.

"You know you can talk to me if you're upset... right?" she said, almost as a question. She wanted people to see her as a person they could rely on.

"You wouldn't understand," Kitty told her,

"I probably would," Arietta muttered, thinking of everything she had been through.

"But you wouldn't. That's the thing. YOU can't barge in here thinking YOU own the place and know everything. YOU. DON'T. KNOW. ANYTHING!" Kitty sprinted away leaving Arietta stunned. She had just trying to help, she hadn't wanted to upset anyone, she didn't see the point. But she had accidentally succeeded after being at Elmtree House for less than 24 hours.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, not that Kitty could hear the apology anyway.

Xxx

"What are you doing out here?" Faith asked, Arietta turned to her,

"couldn't sleep, neither could Kitty and I asked her if she was ok and she completely went off on one, I mean I was sitting like WHOA! She has more anger issues than Beethoven and his anger was justified, he was going deaf." Faith looked confused, "she looked unhappy, I asked her what was wrong, she had a massive go at me and ran away," Arietta explained,

"right, ok," Faith said, "I'll go looking for her, you should go inside." Arietta nodded and mentally slapped herself for the unneeded musical comments.

She wasn't going to lie, those comments were uncalled for, Kitty probably had some reason to hate her. One of her old friends, Piper, had nicknamed her Marmite because you either loved Arietta Tara Rosenberg or you hated her. There really was no in between.

Sighing, she stood up and returned inside, after all she still had stuff to unpack.

Xxx

When Arietta came down to breakfast Kitty approached, _shit, there is going to be a fight. I don't want a fight, I have only been here a day. What would Mozart do? Think Arietta, think. Wait how would Mozart be able to help me, O Fortuna might help. Why would O Fortuna help? Well at least I would get beaten up to dramatic music._

"Look I'm sorry about earlier, I was just annoyed, okay. I thought you were taking Erin's place but yeah, I'm sorry, I know you were just trying to be nice," Kitty said in a mumble.

_She's apologising?! Ok I expected to be murdered, say something nice, let her know you've forgiven her._

"Don't worry, I know you wouldn't intentionally be horrible," she told the younger and (quite a lot) smaller girl, but then again Arietta was ridiculously tall but unlike Sam who suited her height, Ari just had an awkwardly gangly appearance. Kitty smiled and sat down at the table, where Arietta joined her.

"So when does school start?" Arietta asked,

"well we got two weeks for half term and this the second week, so we still have quite a few days," Tyler told her,

"you'll be in year 10 so there is a good chance you will know someone in your form group, each year has 4 forms so there is a 50% chance that you will be with someone from the Dumping Ground. Rick and Erin are in 10Br and I'm in 10RS," Sam told her,

"ok, I guess that is slightly reassuring."

"Don't worry I have only been going to the school for two weeks," Kitty told her,

"at least I'm not the only one."

"Yeah and I only started at the beginning of the term," Sam said.

"Kitty which year are you in?" the new girl asked,

"I'm in year 9 with Johnny, Tee and Tyler are in year 8, Jody is in year 7, Frank is in year 11 and Faith in year 12," Kitty told her,

"and Erin, Rick and Sam are in year 10 with me?" she questioned, Kitty nodded in response. "Ok, um... so what type of... music do you guys like?"

**Thank you for reading, please review and Zebralover4578 if I could help in some way please tell me in a review xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Thank you Linneagb for reviewing, "Love it or hate it," is the British Marmite campaign, I personally think it is disgusting but I have a friend who loves it and eats it with everything. **

**Thank you Candy-Apple14 for reviewing**

**Thank you Cookie05 for reviewing**

**Also I used the ages given by Zebralover4578 in Not Alone Anymore, though I did transfer Sam from year 9 to year 10 for various reasons.**

**WARNING SOME OF THE ABUSE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER MAY BE RATED M, IF YOU THINK I SHOULD CHANGE THE RATING TELL ME IN A REVIEW OR BY PM.**

On Arietta's second full day in the mainstream care system she found herself being questioned intrusively.

What if she didn't want to remember everything?

Answering their questions meant facing the truth, something Arietta Tara Rosenberg wasn't planning on doing. Ever.

Xxx

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Tyler asked, she considered, she could tell them she was the 14th child of the family and last time she checked she had at least another 14 younger siblings as well.

"I have lots," she told them in a monotone.

"How old are they?" Kitty asked,

"I have lots," she repeated, her monotone bordering on robot.

"So where do you come from?" Tyler asked, sensing that Arietta wouldn't give them the truth any time soon.

"I was born in Beijing, I've lived there for the majority of my life."

"It must have been so cool to live in Beijing," Frank commented,

"it was," Arietta lied.

Well come on. Like she was going to tell them that she more or less grew up on a rubbish heap with a sheet of aluminium as a roof. Admittedly it wasn't actually a rubbish heap, she had once heard someone call it a Shanty Town but to her it didn't matter what you called it. It would always be a dump.

"Do you play any musical instruments?" Kitty asked, "Erin, Rick and Sam play the guitar,"

"ooh snap," she told the tiny girl, well tiny from Arietta's point of view, "I also play the violin which is my favourite instrument. I also play the piano, bass guitar and drums but I could probably play most instruments that aren't wind or brass,"

"why not wind or brass?" Tyler asked,

"because I'm not very good at blowing," she replied grinning.

"You into any sports?" Frank asked,

"I'm more into running, I have terrible upper body strength," she informed them,

"opposite of Sam, Sam is on the school basketball team and plays county softball."

"You should try basketball," Sam told Ari, "you're tall enough and to be honest the team is desperate to find to new members because for some reason it is hard to find girls above 5'7 who are willing to play basketball for the school team."

"How tall are you exactly?" Kitty questioned,

"5 foot 10 and a half, too tall to be a model,"

"I'm 5'9," Sam piped up,

"perfect height for a model and you could pass for one too," Ari commented, smiling as Sam blushed furiously and tried to hide behind her blonde hair.

"So what sports do you like Frank?"

Xxx

"Why are you here?" Sam blurted out, everyone turned to stare at the girl.

_Shit,_ Arietta thought to herself, _what could she say to them? She couldn't tell them the truth, she wanted to forget not remember._

"Sam, that's a bit rude," Frank told her awkwardly, the others looked away embarrassed.

"Don't Frank, it's all right, but, to be honest, I don't really want to tell my life story to a group of people I've just met. You seem nice and... that but... it's just too early," Arietta told them truthfully, after all her terrible ordeal had only ended 3 months ago.

To her chagrin Kitty scoffed at Arietta's words but tried to disguise it as a cough. Arietta had had enough, it was a miracle she didn't punch Kitty, after all Kitty had managed to take all her anger out on the new girl for no obvious reason. Most people found Arietta's story unbelievable, unbelievable because how could a girl who had been through that much could wake up. Smile. Eat breakfast. Smile. Be the focus of verbal abuse. Smile. Live life. Smile.

Arietta had gotten so use to smiling that she found herself smiling constantly. Fake-smiling of course. Arietta Rosenberg couldn't even remember what a real smile felt like.

Kitty had seen the smile, mistook it for genuine and because of her "real" smile knew that Arietta's past couldn't have been that bad. Because of course you can't live life with a smile on your face if you have seen darkness, the worst in the world.

So Kitty laughed at Arietta mistaking the violinist for naïve, vulnerable and sheltered from the shit of life and it was a miracle Ari made it to the haven of her room.

FLASHBACK

"_You don't know pain," the man yelled, his booted foot collided with Arietta's stomach, she lay on the floor, defeated. She had no tears left to cry._

_The pain had burned her insides out, like the strongest type of poison. The poison had killed her humanity, leaving an empty shell._

_An empty shell lying in their own piss and blood._

"_You don't know the pain I have felt, you don't know what pain is," he took a deep breath and walked away before stopping picking up a package of some kind. Arietta couldn't make out what it was despite her eyes being attuned to the dark. He made his way back over to Arietta and crouched down beside her, he held the package above Arietta's face. _

_It was a bottle of some kind filled with blood. "This is her blood," he told her, "what happened to her was your fault," Ari tried to shuffle away but before she had gotten any distance at all he had grabbed her leg, forcing her to stay still. He slapped her across the face, "whore, if I am talking you will listen to me, is that clear," she looked at him, her eyes telling him it was clear. "Say yes, whore," he yelled at her, she tried to speak, no words came out. _

"_I was going to leave you alone," he told her, "but if you won't do what I say I will have to punish you."_

_He tipped her head back violently, he plugged her nose, forcing her to breathe through her mouth and as she opened her mouth, he started pouring the blood down her throat._

_She choked, she gagged, she tried to spit it out. He kept pouring and she ended up swallowing quite a lot of it, and what she didn't swallow ran down her body, mixing with her own blood, like paint on a palet._

_When he was finished, he laughed and walked away. _

_Her body took matters into its own hands and she started throwing up the blood and fortunately was able to roll onto her side to stop herself from choking on her own vomit. But other than that she was too weak to move so she ended up lying in her blood, her piss, her vomit and if that wasn't bad enough, Mia's blood too._

"It was my fault," Arietta Rosenberg couldn't help but whisper.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4/Chapter 32**

**Thank you Candy-Apple14 for reviewing**

**Thank you Cookie05 for reviewing**

Arietta was brought back to the real world by a knocking at the door, she pulled herself off the floor before realising she was soaking. Shit. Mentally thanking Mike for putting her in a room with a wooden floor she quickly pulled off her jeans and used them to dry to the floor. She stuffed them into a plastic bag along with her pants. She quickly pulled on a skirt and grabbed a thick music theory book. Then quickly sprayed some deodorant, hoping to eliminate the smell of piss.

"Come in," Arietta said, Sam opened the door and walked in closing it behind her, Sam didn't seem to notice the strong smell of spray.

"Interesting book?" Sam asked,

"music theory," Ari replied, looking up and closing the book before storing into under her bed. As she returned to her original position she noticed Sam was holding a box.

"So Sam what can I do for you?"

Sam looked away from Arietta's brown eyes and to the box, "I was thinking, since you arrived everything has been about you. We've all been very upfront, demanding details on your life. Trying to get to know you but to you, we are complete strangers. You know nothing about us, and there we are demanding information about you and you probably don't even know my surname. So, it only seems fair that I tell you about me," Sam sitting down on the bed, facing Arietta.

She opened the box and handed Arietta the first picture, it was a picture of her Mum holding a newborn Sam, "my name is Samantha Carter but I am most commonly known as Sam, some people call me Sammy but it makes me feel about 5. I am in year 10, like you, I was born on the 17th March 1999 and I am 14."

She passed Arietta the next picture, showing Sam aged 4, with an older girl, her Mum and Dad, "that picture was taken when I was 4, about a month before Dad left. Dad had been having an affair and around the same time my Mum was ill, really ill. One day she went into hospital and when she came home she was crying, she told me and Shine to go upstairs and she talked to my Dad. He left that night, and Mum cried, when Shine – my big sister asked why, she told us she had this thing called Cancer."

FLASHBACK

"Mummy," Sam whispered, "Mummy what's cancer?" Her Mother brushed her hands through her long brown hair, as she sat down next to her youngest daughter.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked, smiling, fake smiling.

"Shine said you had it. What is it? Is it bad?"

"Cancer makes you ill," her Mum told her, it was only when Sam was older that she realised how much her Mother had simplified it for her.

"But we have medicine in the cupboard, medicine makes you better when you're sick," the 4 year old replied,

"the medicine in the cupboard won't help me," she whispered softly,

"well go to the doctors, they can give you medicine."

"The doctors don't have anything that can help,"

"but they make people better, why can't they make you better?" Sam cried,

"I don't know," she replied standing up, "come on Sammy, it's time to pick Shine up from school."

END OF FLASHBACK

"About two months after that she died, then Shine and I went to live with my Dad and his girlfriend, Kahri. Kahri was in her twenties and Dad always looked and acted younger than his age. Before I knew what was happening the two of them had locked me and Shine in our bedroom, which had no windows and they stayed out all night. They did this every night and every day, about once a week they would take us up onto the roof of our block of flats, just so we got some sunlight while we remained unseen. During this time Shine had started to teach me all the stuff she knew, but she had been taking out of school age 9 so she only had limited knowledge. When I was 8 and Shine was 13 our Dad let Shine go outside by herself, only because he knew that she would never run away without me. She started busking illegally and she was good, really good. She used the money she made to buy me school books and I was able to start teaching myself during the day. She also bought a guitar for herself and for my 9th birthday she bought me a guitar too, also she saved money for our future. When Dad and Kahri came into our room we had to hide our stuff, because if they found it we would have been in massive trouble. Then when I was 11 we got our lucky break, they forgot to lock our bedroom door so when they were gone Shine packed all our stuff and we had run away. We travelled from London to Manchester and Shine used the saved money to hire us a back room of a run down Victorian house. It was only one room and smashed up bathroom, we had to sleep on camp beds but it was better than home. Shine got a job at a club as a singer and she sent me to school, having to lie continuously, saying she was 18 and my legal guardian but the school was used to unusual situations and turned a blind eye and let me attend the school."

Sam stopped talking for a second taking the two girls into a relaxing but slightly awkward silence, "It's okay, I'm here." Sam looked up and gave Arietta a tiny smile before taking a deep breath and launching into the end of the story.

FLASHBACK

She was 12, in her final term of year 7 and she was free. Free from her Dad and Kahri, free from the small flat in London. Now Samantha Marcia Carter lived in a bedsit in Manchester, it wasn't much; a small room with two dirty mattresses that had cost Shine forty quid. Next to the small room was a bathroom, a bashed up sink that only worked half the time and a toilet. No bath, no shower but Sam and Shine were used to washing their hair in the sink.

Sam had a routine, leave home at 8, school start at 8:40, school end at 3:30, get home at 4:10, start homework at 4:30, leave the house at 5 to allow Shine to get changed in private and to go food shopping. Most people would never let an 11 year old do their grocery shopping for them, especially without a list. For Sam it was natural and she found it easy, she got used to having a budget and knowing how long food would store before it would go off (they didn't have a fridge, they couldn't afford one.) She would be at home for 6 where she would give Shine the food, she always bought better food for Shine, not that Shine knew this. Then after Shine had gone to work she would eat her tea, usually bought from the reduced section in the supermarket, no point wasting money on herself. Sam would stay awake till 11, mainly reading and working or playing the guitar and writing songs. At 11 Shine would walk in, money in hand and moan at Sam for staying up too late while still smiling. She would quickly peel off her clothes and got onto her mattress. At this point they would talk, tell each other about their day until one of them, usually Sam fell asleep.

But one day Shine wasn't home by 11. Sam was curled up in the corner, wide awake, staring at the door. It was somewhere around 1, she couldn't sleep until Shine was home. She needed Shine. She knew she would be tired tomorrow, she knew her body needed sleep and she tried to get to sleep, she managed after 5 minutes. She was dreaming about the television at the old flat, the one she spend 7 years of her life watching. She was watching some kids show, she sighed and switched to the BBC 1. "The reports have confirmed that the body found last night belonged Shannay "Shine" Carter, aged 17. Shine was murdered on her way home from the nightclub that she sung at..." The News Reporter was interrupted by Sam waking up. She tried to stop crying but she couldn't, it had seemed so real.

Refusing to sleep again Sam started pacing backwards and forwards, not stopping, not until she heard the door rattling and a figure fell inside. In the doorway lay Shine, covered in blood, shivering and crying.

Shine never cried. Not when she got bitten by the big dog at the park. Not when their Mum had died. Not when Dad slapped her across the face for cheek. Not ever.

"What happened?" Sam cried, rushing to Shine's side.

"Nothing, I'm fine," she snapped, pulling herself to her feet.

"You're not fine though," Sam whispered through the tears.

"I just tripped over, leave me be and go back to bed," Shine yelled, Sam froze,

"but you're hurt Shine, what happened?" Sam never saw it coming, she just felt an agonising pain as Shine's hand collided with her cheek.

"Fuck off," Shine yelled running into the bathroom, Sam just chucked herself at the mattress and sobbed.

Sam woke the next morning at the 11, she had missed school but didn't care. Shine was gone, probably out busking. Sam grabbed her school bag, even though she wasn't going to school. She walked out of her room, it backed onto the garden and she went from their over the fence into the alley. She spent the day wandering the streets of Manchester, occasionally seeing people from her school, most surprised that a "geek" like her was bunking off. She returned at 4:10 (her usual time) and surprising Shine was there, singing to her iPod that Sam had bought last Christmas. Well Sam said bought, in reality she just did the guy, whose iPod it was, homework for a month.

Sam, unable to face Shine went to the bathroom, in the bin next to the toilet she noticed a large wad of toilet paper in it, and she was almost certain Shine wasn't on her period. When she looked closer she realised it was unused and under it was a stick – a pregnancy test.

A pregnancy test reading positive.

Shine's positive pregnancy test.

Sam continued her usual routine, vowing to ask Shine about the pregnancy the next day. Shine didn't mention the events of the previous night, so Sam didn't mention them either.

Shine returned that night a few minutes late, nothing unusual. She grinned at the money, sung a silly song, put on her iPod and pulled Sam up to dance. They just jumped and spun around a bit, they both were giggling, happy but when Shine looked away Sam would stare at her, noticing for the first time the dark circles under her eyes, barely visible under the thick makeup. How the smile on her face didn't quite reach her eyes, she looked older. A lot older. She didn't look 17.

When they were both exhausted Shine went into the bathroom to get changed, something that never used to happen. She never had a problem with getting changed in front of Sam, but then again Sam could guess why.

Shine slipped into bed, wearing a baggy sweatshirt and leggings, something she never wore, especially not in summer.

They slipped into their usual chat, Sam made up some rubbish about her day at school and Shine listened. After she had finished her story they fell into silence, "Sammy," Shine whispered, Sam looked up, no one had used that nickname, not since her Mum had died, "you know that I love you," Shine whispered,  
"of course," Sam replied, "you're my big sister, how could I not love you?"

"Do you remember Mum?" Shine asked about a minute later,

"yeah, not much. My first clear memory was when I asked her about cancer, we talked for a bit then we picked you up from school, it had only just started for the year, it was September. We went to the park, then Mum announced she had a picnic and we ate the food, we didn't like the crusts of the bread so she cut them off and we fed them to the ducks, there were 3 ducks, we called them Hubert, Gertrude and..."

"Fred," Shine said, cutting off Sam's sentence, "we went home after that and Mum announced that she was going to home school me. She knew she was dying, and wanted to spend as much time as possible with us."

They fell into silence, Sam remembered how every day their Mum had taken them somewhere new, then one day she woke them up particularly early one day, they got a plane to Italy, she never said why but she hired a car and they drove round Italy.

"Do you remember the sunflowers?" Sam asked Shine,

"how could I not remember? Mum drove us out into the countryside and every field was full of sunflowers. She drove for hours before we came to a small cottage, she knocked on the door but the wrong person answered the door. The person she was looking for was gone, moved away I reckon, didn't stop her from finding us a B&B to stay in. We were there for two weeks, she knew the forests, she knew the fields, one nights she took us stargazing."

"I remember," Sam whispered, "then we were in the Sunflower fields..." the sisters stopped,

"she just collapsed, no warning," Shine said,

"you ran for help and I... I... I just sat there with her, for hours, then you arrived with the villagers, then the ambulance arrived, then the Police, then we were on the plane and Dad met us at the airport then we went to live with him."

We fell into silence, as Sam drifted off to sleep she could swear she hear Shine say, "Samantha Marcia, I am sorry and I will always love you."

When Sam awoke Shine was gone, it wasn't unusual behaviour and she thought nothing of it till at lunchtime at school she received a text from Shine.

_I'm Sorry xxx_

Before she had a chance to reply the bell went and she put her phone away. Anyway Shine was probably apologosing for the other night.

Sam spent the lesson wondering what was going on, was Shine going to leave her for the Dad of the baby. Shine was nice but she would hardly want her little sister to be around 24/7. But if Shine was going to leave her what could she do? She needed Shine. She loved Shine.

Sam didn't want to wait for the truth for longer than necessary so sprinted home, only slowing down as she reached the gate, she smiled at the landlady who was watering the flowers. Sam wandered round to the back of the house, to their room.

She knocked on the door, she could see someone was home, but she didn't want to give Shine a shock. "Shine, I'm home," Sam yelled opening the door, and walked in.

She froze, "no." She whispered, "Shine, no. God. No. Shine." She couldn't move, she couldn't take her eyes away from her sister. "SHINE!" She screamed, in the background she heard the landlady walking round to the back, she knocked on the door.

"Samantha are you ok?" she asked from the outside, Sam just cried. The landlady opened the door and screamed, when she saw it. Not it. Her.

Sam stared up at the ceiling, the rope was suspended from a beam on the ceiling, the rope Shine was hanging from. She found herself crying, screaming and finally being carried out of the house by a policeman into a large van. That was the last day she ever spent in the Victorian house.

END OF FLASHBACK

"So I moved from care home to care home, at first I couldn't understand, then I was angry. I took my anger out on anything, I'm lucky I didn't end up with a criminal record. I was kicked out of my first care home for kicking my bedroom door down, another one I was kicked out of for smoking, it was a younger girl she offered me one in the bathroom and when a care worker walked in on us smoking the girl said that I had forced her to smoke. When I was 13 I knocked a boy's front teeth out after he insulted me, ran away a few times, got drunk and woke up in a ditch multiple times. I've lost count of all the homes I have been in. I've only been in 7 this year, I got help, hence why I've stayed here so long," Sam looked up, Arietta didn't say anything, just took Sam's hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

"I like it here but I'm left out, a bit of a loner."

"How come?" Arietta asked, speaking for the first time since Sam finished her story, "you are so nice and you are always with Tyler, Frank and Kitty."

"It's only cos Erin, Rick and Tee aren't here. Erin and Rick are the leaders and when I arrived, we were in a small group. Erin, Rick, Frank, Elektra, Johnny and me, then Elektra was in an accident and got sent to a specialist care home and Kitty joined. Kitty knew Rick from before and basically became best friends with Erin and she got together with Johnny and it ended up being Erin, Rick, Johnny and Kitty, sometimes with Frank, sometimes with Tee and Tyler but I just found myself being left out over and over again, unwanted."

"I want you here," Arietta told her, "you're different from them. In a good way though."

**Hello everyone, I'm sorry for lack of updates. Blame school and... life. You may recognise quite a lot of it from chapter 32 of Not Alone Anymore but I originally wrote that chapter and I just rewrote the bits Zebralover4578 wrote, so it is all mine. Which is nice. **

**Anyway please review if you enjoyed it, also feel free to read my other TBR/DG story Vodka, Bleach and £50 of Ready Meals**

**Wall xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5/Chapter 33**

**Thank you Candy-Apple14 for reviewing**

**Thank you Cookie05 for reviewing**

**To Linneagb you can use the name Shine for a character, and if the story is a Tracy Beaker Returns or Dumping Ground feel free to mention this story.**

**I may not write for awhile because I'm going on holiday but this chapter is really long to make up for it. I don't even know how it ended up being 4000 words long, it is crazy, it's over double the length of Arietta's past that I wrote for Not Alone Anymore. **

**Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter. **

**Wall With A Fez**

As Arietta looked through Sam's photos, smiling at the picture of Sam with Shine and their Mum, all three of them shared the same blonde hair, but that was the biggest resemblance between them. Arietta realised that Sam was humming, she paused to listen to the song.

"What are you humming?" she asked Sam,

"a lullaby my mum used to play me, it was composed by Zhariatti or someone like that," Arietta stopped, her mind flicking through the thousand composers names she knew.

"Never heard of them," she replied after a moment,

"she used to play it on the violin, she was amazing at the violin. She was amazing at singing too, she was amazing at everything." Arietta stood up and walked over to her chest of drawers,

"is it bad that I wish it had been my Dad that died not my Mum?" Sam asked,

"no," Arietta replied instantly, "your Mum sounded brilliant, I wish I could have met her,"

"I wish you could have met her." Arietta pulled a large leather book out of the drawer and took it over to the bed.

"You've told me your story, now it's my turn," Arietta told Sam, opening the book to the first page. The first page was covered in golden Chinese symbols, "I was born on the 1st January 1999, I am currently 14 years old and my name was Daiyu Xifeng, I was the 14th child of my family."

"But what about the one child rule?"

"Not a rule, they can't force you to have one child it is seriously recommended and they will try and force you to abort a second child but my parents were living with the bloody fairies and last time I saw them they had just given birth to their 29th child," Arietta paused, remembering her family, so many siblings that she couldn't even remember all their names, all still living on the streets of Beijing or dead, well all except Bai.

"Whoa," Sam commented,

"I know right. Anyway when I was 2 my big sister Jing Yi, but later changed her name to Symphony, started to teach me the violin. Symphony was already 14 by this point and a professional violinist. From then violin became my passion and when I was 9 and Symphony was 21 we got the opportunity to leave China to perform our music." Arietta flipped the page of the book to show a photograph of her 9 year old self, who Sam presumed was Symphony and a guy – probably her brother outside a small grey house. "That's me, Symphony and my brother Bai, who was 18 on the day we left China. Bai came with us because... well he actually just came with us for no reason."

Sam turned the pages and saw pictures of London, "when we came to London we chose to rename ourselves, Jing Yi became Symphony, I became Arietta and Bai kept his name, but we all took the surname Rosenberg. After Willow. We performed on the streets of London and one day we got lucky and got recommended for an Orchestra, Symphony became head violinist of the full orchestra and I became head violinist of the youth orchestra. It was a really good youth orchestra; we were basically the same standard as the orchestra for adults. Anyway we travelled the world while Bai stayed in England," Sam flipped the pages: New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Oslo, Copenhagen, Prague, Taiwan, Mexico City, Moscow, Berlin, Sydney, Toronto. So many different cities.

"You've travelled the world," Sam exclaimed, Arietta nodded, "that's amazing," Arietta nodded.

"Everything was perfect for me, I was happy, I had it all, I fitted in then... BAMM! I've lost it all."

"How come?"

"In late 2011 Symphony decided that it would be best for us to settle down in London, we bought a flat. A really good flat, a cool modern one with a balcony and roof access. Then a few days into 2012, about 2 weeks after I had turned 13 when suddenly our parents turned up on our doorstep with a family friend – Chao, he was 29, 4 years older than Symphony, and he was looking for a bride. My parents told Symphony that she was going to marry Chao, at first she argued but agreed eventually. Over the next few weeks we sorted out the wedding."

**FLASHBACK**

"I'm not marrying Chao," Symphony screamed, in Chinese, "you can't make me, England is a free country,"

"then we'll take you back to China," their Father growled, in Chinese obviously, he didn't speak English. Arietta meanwhile had hidden herself under the sink, it was surprisingly roomy despite her never ending growth spurt, Ari had never gotten on with her parents. She had always been a bit too strong willed for their liking and unlike her more submissive siblings had only gotten more rebellious with each slap. Arietta had been 4 at the time, and had refused to scavenge through a rubbish dump. 13 year old Arietta was even more strong willed but still preferred to avoid conflict, though she sprung out of the cupboard when she heard the crash.

She saw Symphony was on the floor, sobbing, while their Father was standing over her.

"Stop," Arietta yelled,

"Daiyu?" her Mother questioned, Ari simply nodded in response. Her Father simply grinned,

"shit," Symphony swore, in English,

"oh," Arietta realised what she had done, she had just given her parents prefect blackmail material and next thing she knew was that she was up against the wall with a knife at her throat.

"Jing Yi marry Chao or your sister will suffer,"

"drop the knife," Symphony whispered, "and I'll marry Chao," her Father grinned, dropped the knife on the floor and pulled his eldest daughter into a hug. Then their Mother let Chao into the flat who proposed to Symphony, who accepted monotonously, when he tried to kiss her she pulled away and told him to wait till after the wedding.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Arietta flipped to the next page, over the next pages where hundreds of pictures of Arietta and Symphony posing in numerous wedding dresses, pulling ridiculous faces.

"Symphony decided on a white dress while I chose purple," Arietta whispered,

"you two look so alike," Sam commented,

"I know," Arietta replied, sighing.

"So what happened?" Sam asked.

**FLASHBACK**

The hen night had been a laugh, it was mainly people from the orchestra and consisted of the usual crazy hen night behaviour. On the actual night before the wedding it had just been Ari and Symphony, curled up on the sofa.

"What is going to happen to me?" Ari asked, Symphony sighed,

"Chao and I are going to live here," she whispered, "and you are being taken back to Beijing."  
"What?! No?! This is my home, I can't just leave, this is my life."

"I know Ari, I really know, but you can get out of Beijing, you may have to wait till your an adult but you can do it. There is only one wait of this marriage and I'll tell you now, the solution isn't a plane."

"What is it?" Arietta asked naively,

"when you leave Beijing, promise me something," Symphony said, avoiding the question.

"anything,"

"take as many as our siblings as you can with you, don't make them suffer that life," Ari nodded in response, "good girl."

The silence between them was comfortable, never awkward, nothing could ever be awkward between them.

"I love you Arietta Tara Rosenberg, never forget that,"

"how could I ever forget?" the younger girl asked, "anyway this isn't the end, when I'm 18 I'll rescue you from Chao," Symphony smiled sadly,

"I wish,"

"have some faith Symphony."

"You should get to bed, I will not have a tired bridesmaid," Arietta groaned and pulled herself off the sofa and trudged to the bathroom.

Arietta came into her bedroom to find Symphony sitting on her bed, "come to sing me to sleep?" Ari asked grinning, chucking her dressing gown onto the floor.

"Something like that," she replied, standing to allow her younger sister to wriggle into the bed. Ari curled up her legs allowing Symphony to sit back down.

"Do you remember that duet we used to sing?" Symphony asked,

"my sister?" Ari asked, Symphony nodded, they looked at each other before entering into the lullaby that hadn't been sung for years.

_Sister, my sister, lay down your sweet head,_

_Sister, my sister, it time for your bed,_

_First they'll be darkness, then there'll be light_

_It's time for me sister, to kiss you goodnight._

_Sister, my sister, into the light I go,_

_Sister, my sister, in the darkness alone._

_The path won't be easy, but you'll find your way._

_Sister, my sister, I can't wait for the day._

_Together we rise and together we fall,_

_And by the morn, I'll mean nothing at all._

_I love you my sister, don't forget that I pray,_

_This day that we're living, is not the last day._

_I will see you soon, all dressed in white,_

_And I will be with you, all through the night._

Symphony stood, tears in her eyes and walked from the room, she flicked the light off and closed the door, leaving Arietta alone in the dark.

Xxx

For Arietta a sleepless night ensued, her sister had left on a bad note, no goodnight, she just walked out. Arietta did consider going to see if Symphony was all right but decided against it, she knew what was wrong.

It wasn't until the morning that she left her bed, "so how's the beautiful bride," she yelled, outside of Symphony's room when there was no reply she cautiously opened the door but when she saw no one she just walked straight in to see...

the dress, layers of silk and chiffon splayed out beautifully in the morning light. Dangling from the ceiling, with the owner inside them.

Arietta didn't scream or shout or cry, she simply tiptoed round to see Symphony's face. She raised her hand to stroke the cold face,

"I hope you find your happiness in the light, but for now I'll keep searching in the dark."

**END OF FLASHBACK**

"She hung herself," Sam whispered seeing the parallels between their life, Arietta nodded, "and you just... accepted it."

"There was always an unspoken pact between Symphony and I, we didn't talk about sexuality or label each other. Symphony always knew I was a lesbian and I always knew she was a lesbian and I knew she would never follow marriage with a man through, I always knew her "way out" was suicide, anyway when she died she was at peace, she was escaping the darkness."

"Do you believe in heaven?" Sam asked,

"not necessarily but I believe that somewhere up there, there is light and I believe that Symphony and Mia are waiting for me there, I also believe that Shine and your Mum are there too."

"Mia?"

"I'm coming to her," Arietta said, blinking back tears.

"My parents took me back to China, Chao still wanted a bride but thankfully women have to be 20 to marry in China so instead I just became his possession. He was able to use me how he liked," Ari sighed, "he was the first man to rape me,"

"first?"

"I was bad, I ran away, came out, my parents put me into conversion therapy to try and "cure" me, but for some reason being tortured didn't change my sexuality. I had been living with Chao for about a month at this point, about a week later when he tried to rape me I fought back – broke his arm and he decided that the best thing to do with me was... sell me,"

"sell you?!"

"yeah, sell me, as a sex slave. To an American Gang, I don't know what type of gang, all I know is that it was horrible."

**FLASHBACK**

Arietta fell to the ground but before she had to regain her senses she was pulled back up and being pushed against the wall by some man, just another man.

She had been in this place for less than an hour, she was in pain and just wanted to escape but instead found herself being pushed from man to man, each taking what they pleased before pushing her to the ground, to another man.

Even when some man knocked her out it hadn't stopped, they just continued, they kept going for hours and when they were finally done Arietta had been thrown into a cell, only about 2 metres by 2 metres. No one thought to give her clothes, or even a blanket.

By the day she was a servant, forced to clean at gunpoint and when the supervisor got bored he would drop the apple core he was eating onto the floor and as Arietta went to pick it up, he would force himself into her mouth and she would have to please him, at gunpoint.

By the night she was a game, passed from man to man till they were all satisfied, some nights the men would find her body would refuse to work for them, so they would beat her, beat her till she was an inch from death. Then they would leave her in the cell for the day before taking her bludgeoned body and using it for its usual purpose.

When she had first been brought to the camp she would cry of pain and embarrassment as she was raped, after a while she gave up caring. To her it meant nothing at all, she grew detached from the world. From the harsh words, the desires of the men, the pain, she became a shell then something pulled her back.

Mia.

The firmer skin of her stomach, the life growing underneath it brought hope. It let Arietta believe in the light, she thought of nothing but her baby, she was obsessed. She her free days thinking of names, well the only name she knew she would choose.

Mia.

Mia Hope Rosenberg.

The light in the world.

The light in her world.

She dreamed of what she would look like; tall but some what lanky as a child, with her black hair plaited and wearing a blue checked dress and growing up to be tall, slender and stunning just like her Mother.

In her head, Mia had none of her Father's attributes, just Arietta's.

Xxx

It had happened at 8 months, the guards knew that their "whore" was pregnant and decided to change that, they wrestled her to the floor and started beating her, kicking her in the stomach before chucking her into her cell.

There was blood, too much blood, "Mia, Mia please hold on," Arietta whispered, the pain was increasing and only later she realised it was contractions.

Arietta had no idea what to do but her body apparently did, making her push when the time was right.

She had no idea how long labour had lasted, to her it felt like it had been hours.

With one final push Ari knew she had done it, she collapsed against the wall for a few seconds regaining her breath. Then she realised she was still in the dark, the new coming hadn't brought the light she believed it would, she also hadn't cried.

Arietta crawled to the mass on the floor, she picked it up, she picked her up; Mia, Mia Hope Rosenberg.

Never going to grow up.

Her skin was tinged a blue sort of colour, her lips were blue, probably due to lack of oxygen.

"Mia," Ari whispered, "come on Mia cry, please cry, please baby... oh god," she broke down into sobs.

A few hours later guards came, they took Mia but Arietta's maternal side took over, she kicked and punched, screamed and scratched.

She ran, she escaped the building, she managed to get over the electric fence, she ran and ran. She knew the men were following her but that didn't stop her, they had killed her Hope, they couldn't do worse.

She sprinted through the woods, her body was out of practice but that wasn't going to stop her. Exhaustion, was another case, her body had already miscarried, given birth and been force to sprint for a huge distance. Meanwhile Arietta was dehydrated and starving so it was hardly surprising when she collapsed, and it was even less surprisingly when she woke up in her cell.

What was surprising was the guards, they let her sit with them for dinner, which was a meal of Arietta's choice. Not that she ate it anyway.

Then she was taken outside, the men handed her a shovel, "dig," they commanded, guns trained on her, "6 foot by 2 foot and 6 foot down,"

"what is the hole for?" Arietta whispered, her throat raw from crying and screaming,

"you," one guard snarled, "it's your grave."

Arietta dug for hours, even though she was exhausted she still continued and as the sun rose, to signify a new day she finished the grave.

She didn't feel scared. She felt at peace.

The men took her inside, they met her wash herself. They gave a white dress, which she put on and then she was led back outside.

At the foot of the grave was a post, she was tied tightly to it and blindfolded.

She felt the guns at her head, she felt calmer than ever before.

Then she heard the gun fire.

The darkness of the blindfold turned to white, in the whiteness was a figure. Arietta walked forward,

"hello Arietta," Symphony whispered, that's when Arietta noticed Symphony was holding a bundle, a moving, gurgling bundle. "Come say hello to Mia, she's been demanding her Mummy," Arietta ran forward, then she was falling.

She heard laughter, her hands were free, she used them to pull off the blindfold. She was lying in the grave, she pulled herself upwards and found the men laughing at her confusion. Her body ached and she couldn't pull herself out of the grave.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

"Then there was the rain, it went on for hours and I couldn't escape, I was trapped in a hole as it filled up, it was cold, I was hurt, I had nothing left to live for but I still wanted to survive. Mia may have gone but she had left a tiny glimmer of hope," Arietta looked up, both girls were crying, but they knew that wasn't the end of the story. "Do you want to know more?" the Chinese girl asked, Sam nodded, squeezing Ari's hand.

"I stopped speaking, I stopped crying, I stopped reacting. They wanted a reaction, so went to even greater extremes than before. They drained Mia of her blood, then taunted me with it and when I didn't react they made me drink it."

"Is that why your vegetarian?" Sam asked, Ari nodded,

"I can't eat meat, my body can no longer cope with it, I tried to eat it a couple of months ago but I just found myself being sick for hours after the meal. Even when there was nothing left to throw up."

"Is that why you refused to talk when Kitty questioned your reasoning as a vegetarian?" Sam asked, Arietta nodded. "How did you escape?"

**FLASHBACK**

Arietta traced the scars on her body, they ran up and down her main torso. For some reason they tended to leave her arms, legs and face – not that she was complaining. Suddenly she heard gunshots, she backed into the corner of the cell. She heard footsteps coming closer, there was a shine of light coming through the bottom of the heavy steel door. It didn't sound like the usual men, they usually charged in, they usually made a lot of noise.

She heard someone banging on the door, "it's locked," she heard an unfamiliar male voice say,

"they must be hiding something pretty precious in there," another man said.

"Is anyone in there?" a third man asked, Arietta paused for a second before summoning the voice that had been silenced for months.

"I'm in here!"

"A woman!" she heard someone exclaim,

"Stand back, we're coming in," they replied,

"I'm back," she replied.

A few seconds later the banging started and after a minute the door finally gave in, Arietta pulled herself up and walked out. She found herself face to face with three men, the police,

"a child!" One man said, the other one had sprinted away,

"what's the date?" Arietta whispered, her throat sore already, out of practice.

"It's the 9th of April 2013,"

"how long have you been here?" the other Police officer asked,

"14 months," Arietta whispered, the other man appeared with a blanket and passed it to Arietta. It was only then that she realised she was completely naked.

"I've missed my birthday," she whispered,

"what's your name? How old are you?"

"Arietta Tara Rosenberg, I'm 14," then suddenly she broke down, "I'm safe."

**END OF FLASHBACK**

"What happened?" Sam asked,  
"they brought me back to England, I was made an official British Citizen, I am now legally known as Arietta Rosenberg. I spent the first month in hospital, then I was put in a specialist care home but I was deemed fit to leave last week. I know I'm not fit for the mainstream care system," she told Sam honestly, looking her straight in the eye.

"But places in specialist care homes are in high demand and I am very good at faking happiness, scarily good. Long as I am assessed on a good day then it is believable that I'm fine,"

"what about a bad day?" Sam asked,  
"then anyone can see that I need help. But I'm on medication, it helps a bit but sometimes I have flashbacks. Strong ones. Really bad ones, earlier today when Kitty laughed at me, at my past she reminded me of a guard and it triggered a flashback. I only came out of the flashback when you knocked on the door,"

"that was over an hour after you left!" Sam exclaimed,

"flashbacks can last a few seconds to a few hours," Arietta replied, monotonously. "Is it ok if you go now?" she asked, Sam nodded. Though about ten minutes later Arietta discovered a violin case outside her room.

_Dear Arietta,_

_I think this violin deserves a new owner; after all it has been 10 years..._

_Sam xxx_

Xxx

Sam didn't sleep, she never did, not on the day her Mother died. She curled up on her bed and cried, remembering her Mother and Shine but her thoughts kept shifting, shifting to the Chinese girl in the room next door.

She walked to the window, looking at the stars usually helped. After all her Mother had taught her all the names before she died, she stared at the moon, it shone down, seemingly brighter than ever before.

A light in the darkness.

Hope.

She looked across and noticed Arietta's window was open, then she saw the figure on the drive. A figure with a violin.

Arietta raised the violin and burst into the melody, the lullaby that Sam's mother used to play.

The two girls were lost in the music, but they certainly weren't lost in the dark. After all the moon shining down illuminated the way forward and gave them something very important.

Hope.


End file.
